Denver Christmas Conference 2010

Wow, we just got back from a whirlwind trip to Colorado. We enjoyed some great, but quick, time with Michelle's family up in Greeley and then headed quickly down to Denver for our first ever Denver Christmas Conference, now that we are officially staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.

You might be asking what the Denver Christmas Conference is (better known as DCC). Well, we weren't quite sure what it was either. But we found out first-hand that it is a great - although exhausting with two very young munchkins - experience! But rather than me trying to explain it, here are the words direct from the godcc.com website's "What" page:

We want to see your life changed. We want to see the world changed.

Every year at the Denver Christmas Conference (DCC) college students from all over the Midwest come to grow closer to Jesus Christ through prayer, powerful worship, passionate bible teaching, and community. You will have many opportunities to be equipped with life and ministry skills, to connect and network with other students, and to reach out locally and globally. We are excited to announce that this year we will be assembling at least 100,000 meals for on-going relief efforts in Haiti in partnership with Kids Against Hunger on Dec 29.

This year you can look forward to a film festival, multiple dance parties, fun on the 16th street mall, and possibly the biggest New Year's party you've ever been to.

GO DCC and GET FREE this winter break!

A snapshot of just a portion of the room during one of the main sessions.

As mentioned above, part of this year's DCC included a time where staff and students participated in a meals for Haiti even that allowed us to package over 104,000 meals to be sent to those in need as a result of the Haiti earthquakes that happened just one short year ago this week. See the video below for the story that Denver's local Fox news channel did (you can even see me - Nate - in the video at about 1:41 or so - at least my back as I loaded boxes onto pallets). It was one of the many Faith Building events that students and staff participated in while at this years conference.

 

Another faith building experience you might have seen or heard snippets about if you follow me on Facebook, was a Freeze Flash Mob that both students and staff participated in on Denver's popular 16th Street Mall New Year's Eve. For those that don't know what that means, it basically means this: the total group of people at this event (around 1200 students and a few hundred more staff on top of that - so lets say 1500 to be easy) went out to Denver's 16th Street Mall (which is an outside pedestrian street with shops, restaurants, etc - where they were holding New Years parties along with fireworks at 9:00 PM and Midnight) and acted like they were just normal people out mingling or shopping or doing whatever all up and down the entire 8 blocks of the mall. Well, at a pre-planned time of 8:15 PM, everyone that was part of the Denver Christmas Conference froze in place no matter what they were doing for 5 complete minutes. Once that 5 minutes was up, they "went back to being normal"... well, that is usually where Freeze Flash Mobs end, but not this one. As part of the faith building experience, the staff and students used the attention this flash mob produced to strike up conversations with bi-standers along the mall... all in the hopes of guiding them through a survey that leads to a spiritual conversation. It was quite the event, especially with the very cold temperatures in Denver that night.

After DCC, we headed back up north to Greeley and spent another full week meeting with friends, family and some newly introduced friends to share more about the ministry God has called us to and what it is He is doing with and through us. If we haven't had a chance to share with you yet, just let us know - we are striving to connect with everyone personally so that you can hear first hand what is going on with our new Patrick Family Adventure.

Now that we have made it home after a decently long journey for us and our kids, we are recovering and giving thanks for all God did in the "short" two and a half weeks we were in Colorado. Thank you to all who helped us out on this trip, we are grateful!

Samuel wishes you a Happy New Year!

Well, we're here in at the Denver Christmas Conference and it's New Year's Eve.  I decided to sneak away and borrow mommy and daddy's laptop to post my review of 2010.  I hope you all enjoy my perspective on a year of changes for the Patrick family!

Me and Baby Eyi on Christmas Eve

It’s been another busy year for the Patricks.  One of the biggest changes for me has been the arrival of my little brother, baby Eyi (mommy and daddy call him Elias Ray, or Eli for short).  When mommy’s tummy was really round I didn’t understand what a baby was.  But then Eyi was botn on May 14^th and now I know that a baby is a little person that makes a lot of noise and takes a lot of attention, but is also very cute and fun to help take care of.  I love my little brother Eyi and now I can hardly remember what life was like before he was a part of our family.  One of my favorite games is when daddy runs around holding Eyi and chasing me…it almost feels like Eyi and I are playing tag already.  I know we will have lots of fun as soon as he starts walking and running himself!

Actually, that makes me think of all the changes baby Eyi has been going through. He just started crawling this month!  And he’s been doing lots of new things lately, like eating solid foods and sitting up too.  And the best part for mommy and daddy is that he has started sleeping through the night and napping better, which also makes Eyi a happy baby.  Baby Eyi has a really cute smile and a great laugh.  I love to laugh and play with him, and he tries to crawl and follow me everywhere I go and play with all my toys.  I’m just learning to share with him and mommy says I do a pretty good job.  I’m sure it will take lots of practice.

Santa brought me new cars for my collection

My favorite things right now are cars and choo choo trains.  I especially love my growing collection of Hot Wheels and Disney/Pixar Cars.  I also really like playing with balls and riding my bike.  And I love dancing and singing to songs on the radio, especially the Christmas music daddy and mommy have been playing lately.

Daddy and mommy have been talking about another big change for our family too.  During daddy’s recent unemployment, daddy and mommy have been feeling an increasing desire and calling to serve God full-time. They tell me that they spent a lot of time praying and asking God what He wanted for our family.  Sensing God’s calling, daddy and mommy have joined as full-time staff members of Campus Crusade for Christ, which is very exciting to me.

I didn’t know this before, but Campus Crusade is a worldwide organization that is committed to making an eternal difference in people’s lives by giving every person in the world the opportunity to say “yes” to Jesus.  Daddy and mommy will be focusing on reaching the 8,000 student interns from 52 different countries that participate in the Walt Disney World College Program.  Daddy and mommy actually participated in this program in 2003 and they say they saw the need for ministry to these students first-hand.  God has been arranging circumstances in really neat ways to send our family to Florida to minister to these students, and daddy and mommy are really excited to see God’s calling so clearly in their lives.  They say that the opportunity to reach student leaders from 52 different countries all in one place, at one time, speaking one language was just too enticing to ignore.

Here at the Denver Christmas Conference I've gotten to meet some of the students who have been impacted by the ministry at Walt Disney World through the 2010 Summer Project, including a student from China!  I'm not really sure where that is, but mommy and daddy say it is really far away and that it is a big deal to have a chinese student from Walt Disney World all the way here in Denver for the Campus Crusade student conference, which is kind of like a spiritual growth retreat for over 1,000 college students.  Mommy and daddy say that being at this conference has only confirmed their sense of being called by God to reach the students on the Disney College Program in Florida.

Before our family can actually move to Florida to begin our ministry, daddy and mommy have to raise our support.  They tell me that like many other missions organizations, Campus Crusade staff members have the responsibility to develop a team of financial partners who provide the necessary finances for their outreach, including their salary and ministry-related expenses.

So I’ve been seeing many friends and meeting a lot of new people as daddy and mommy have been sharing their calling to reach the student interns in Florida over the past couple months.  I hope I’ll get the chance to meet many more people like you this spring as daddy and mommy continue to share with more people until we are ready to follow God to Florida. 

God has really blessed our family in 2010.  I hope you enjoyed hearing a little bit from me about how God is leading our family.  We would love to hear how God has been moving in your family too.  We are trusting God for another great year in 2011, and we wish you a blessed New Year!

With love on New Year's Eve,

Samuel Thomas Patrick

(mommy, daddy and Eli too)